MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF SINTERED 6061 ALUMINIUM ALLOY AND ITS COMPOSITES CONTAINING SOFT OR HARD PARTICLES.

PREPARED BY THE CONVENTIONAL POWDER METALLURGY (P/M) ROUTE WERE THE 6061 ALUMINUM ALLOY AND ITS PARTICULATE COMPOSITES CONTAINING UP TO 14 VOL.% OF GRAPHITE, TALC, ALUMINA, AND TIC DISPERSOIDS; PROPERTIES LIKE YIELD STRESS, HARDNESS, POROSITY, ULTIMATE TENSILE STRENGTH, AND ELONGATION WERE EVALUATED; USING SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, FRACTOGRAPHS WERE OBSERVED; THE COMPOSITES CONTAINING TIC SHOWED IMPROVEMENT IN PROPERTIES OVER THAT OF THE BASE ALLOY, WHEREAS THOSE CONTAINING GRAPHITE SHOWED MINIMUM MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AMONGST ALL TYPES OF COMPOSITES; THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF THE COMPOSITES IS EXPLAINED ON THE BASIS OF INTRINSIC PROPERTIES OF DISPERSOIDS AND SINTERING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COMPOSITE. TERMS: M--(U), INDIA, ENGLISH, AA 6061, ELONGATION, ENERGY DISPERSIVE ANALYSIS, FRACTOGRAPHY, FRACTURE SURFACE, PRECIPITATION HARDENING, RESIDUAL STRESS, SEM, TENSILE PROPERTIES, TENSILE YIELD STRENGTH, ULTIMATE TENSILE STRENGTH, X-RAY ANALYSIS, HEAT TREATMENT, SINTERING, SOLUTION HEAT TREATMENT, WATER QUENCHING, ALUMINUM ALLOYS, MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, EXPERIMENTAL